As I mentioned last week, I was invited to the Luisa Via Roma celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of its transformation from a strictly bricks and mortar fashion multi-brand boutique to online fashion emporium. The celebrations entitled Firenze4Ever took place in Florence and included among other things, a Styling Lab where bloggers were given access to the latest Fall/Winter 2010-11 collections (many pieces straight off the runway), a professional make-up artist, models, a photographer and some of the most beautiful settings across Florence to stage a photo shoot.
Many of the bloggers who participated in the Styling Lab went all out and styled their models (or themselves in many cases) with the more extreme fashion options available to us from the shop floor. While I love extreme fashion for its ability to provoke and inspire, it has very little to do with how I personally use fashion in my daily life. Like any woman who struggles to balance work, family and social life, I've learned that the key to elegance (especially in a corporate setting) is often simplicity. This is all the more true if you travel for work as I do. With this in mind, I set out to show how the right dress paired with the right accessories can take you from Belle de Jour to Belle de Nuit with minimal effort.
So, with the assistance of Elisa Corsi, a member of Luisa Via Roma's stellar buying team, the gorgeous Saba Tedla (who by the way is as lovely on the inside as she is on the outside) and Federica di Giovanni, our intrepid photographer, we set out in 31 degree heat and humidity to the luscious gardens of the Villa Bardini in the hills overlooking Florence.
The dress in this instance is key to pulling both the day and evening looks together. The ideal dress needs to be simple enough to work for day and offer enough flexibility to be tricked-out for evening. I opted for a gorgeous black Versace double jersey shift dress with an embellished zipper running up the front. For day, I paired it with a crisp white Dolce & Gabbana dress shirt and accessorized with a large black quilted Givenchy handbag (roomy enough to hold a laptop and documents) and a pair of very funky leopard print wedges by Giuseppe Zanotti to add a bit of excitement to an otherwise very strict look. Because the dress already had the embellished zipper and the handbag was relatively ornate, I opted for no further accessories so as to not overwhelm the look. Saba's hair was pulled back into a sleek, tight ponytail and her make-up was kept to a minimum.
For evening, we simply removed the dress shirt and replaced the booties by a gorgeous pair of satin and lace platform pumps by Casedei, a red leather clutch bag (actually a shoulder bag with shoulder strap removed) by Ragazze Ornamentali, a small Italian accessories brand and a lovely snake bracelet embellished with Swarovski crystals by Ca&Lou, a new line of handcrafted haute couture costume jewelry (more about them later). We let Saba's hair down for a more relaxed feel and added a slightly brighter lip gloss and voilà, my lovely, strong Belle de Jour became a gorgeous, sexy Belle de Nuit ready for an elegant dinner or fabulous party with just a change of accessories. Best of all, this transformation can be effected in your office if you have no time to run home to change.
I must admit, I enjoyed my Florentine adventure in styling thoroughly but it brought home to me just how much work and how many different players are involved in styling even a very simple photo shoot such as this one. A very heartfelt "thank you" to Elisa, Saba and Federica for making the day so much fun for me and for braving the stifling heat so graciously. I think we made a great team (even if I do say so myself). Also, thank you to the entire team of passionate fashion elves at Luisa Via Roma who worked like mad to pull off the celebrations. Grazie mille di tutto!
Sincerely,
The Luxe Chronicles
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